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Every year, staffers at the New York Public Library release their rankings of best books of the year spanning a variety of categories, including top tomes for children, best children books in Spanish, best books for teens and top books for adults.
Given the librarians' unparalleled expertise and their constant interactions with New Yorkers, their recommendations feel like more than just that. Their annual lists become an essential, almost authoritative, reading guide for the year ahead—a curated roadmap to the books we have to read to be part and parcel of the city's cultural canon.
Keep in mind that, given the excitement behind the release of the titles, library members will likely flock to various branches to get their hands on each one of these books (are all available in multiple formats) so you might want to reserve your turn ASAP.
Without further ado, here are the best books of 2024 according to the New York Public Library:
10 best books for adults
The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America by Aaron Robertson
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I Was Working by Ariel Yelen
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger
Rare Flavours by Ram V
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell
A Sunny Place for Shady People: Stories by Mariana Enriquez
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
10 best books for teens
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo
Canto Cantigo by Jonny Garza Villa
The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
Gachiakuta, Volume 1 by Kei Urana and Hideyoshi Andou
How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith, Jr.
Leap by Simina Popescu
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall
Snowglobe by Soyoung Park
10 best books for children
Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George
Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen
Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Roy DeCarava by Gary Golio
Godfather Death by Sally Nicholls
Made in Asian America: A History for Young People by Erika Lee and Christina Soontornvat
Mallory in Full Color by Elisa Stone Leahy
Mishka by Edward van de Vendel and Anoush Elma
The Spindle of Fate by Aimee Lim
We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang
When I Wrap My Hair by Shauntay Grant
10 best books for children in Spanish
Aire animal por Teodora
Cómo se come un mango por Paola Santos
Cuando seamos ranas por Dipacho
Gracias por Jarvis
Llamando a mamá por Anya Damirón
Los mariachis de Adela por Denise Vega
Ojalá pudiera decirte por Jean-François Sénéchal
Un plato de esperanza: La inspiradora historia del chef José Andrés y World Central Kitchen por Erin Frankel
El río es mi mar por Rio Cortez
La vida secreta de las babosas por Moesha Kellaway